Lille (AFP)

President LREM of the National Assembly, Richard Ferrand, was indicted on the night of Wednesday to Thursday in Lille for "illegal taking of interests" in the Mutuelles de Bretagne case.

The fourth character of the state immediately announced, in a statement sent to AFP, to be "determined to continue (his) mission" at the head of the Assembly.

This blow for the majority comes as, coincidentally, two other heavyweights, François Bayrou and Marielle de Sarnez, were heard on the same day in the case of the allegedly fictitious jobs of the assistants of the MoDem MEPs.

At the end of an "examination of first appearance" of nearly 15 hours in Lille, where the case was disorientated a year ago, "the three investigating judges seized the case decided to indict Richard Ferrand for illegal taking of interests ", said the night in the AFP parquet Lille.

Mr. Ferrand immediately took "note of this procedural measure that will allow him to be able to defend himself" and assured "remain calm on the outcome of the procedure, with regard to the classification without follow-up of all the grievances of the first complaint "in October 2017," especially since no new element has been added to this file in which there is no harm or victim ".

The affair of Mutuelles de Bretagne had led this faithful of the first hour of Emmanuel Macron to leave the government in June 2017. Just appointed Minister of Cohesion of the territories, he had been pinned by The Chained Duck who had revealed that in 2011 the Mutuelles de Bretagne, which he then ran, had decided to rent commercial premises belonging to his partner. Mr Ferrand disputes any irregularity.

The Brest public prosecutor opened a preliminary investigation in June 2017, dismissed in October. He had invoked the prescription of a possible offense of unlawful taking of interest and found that the breaches of breach of trust and fraud were "not constituted".

Anticor anticorruption association then filed a second complaint with civil party.

After presiding over the group of LREM deputies, Richard Ferrand took over from François de Rugy at the Assembly in September 2018. Upon his election to the perch, he had already warned half-heartedly that he would not resign in the event of indictment.

- "Presumption of innocence" -

"Parliament has its independence, so parliamentarians do not have to be in the hands of the judiciary," he said, noting that a "number of MPs indicted" continued to "exercise their mandate ".

Asked Wednesday noon on the hearing then in progress, the government spokeswoman Sibeth Ndiaye refused any "comment before knowing the subject of this summons".

"This appointment should have taken place a year ago but Mr. Ferrand had managed to gain some time by disorienting his record in Lille." It now wants him to explain the facts that are alleged and which are not prescribed, "said for its part to AFP the president of Anticor, Jean-Christophe Picard.

Since the announcement of the hearing of Mr. Ferrand, several members of the majority have supported him and have tried in advance to minimize the scope of a possible indictment.

The leader of LREM deputies, Gilles Le Gendre, said Thursday to AFP that "he must remain in office, where he enjoys the confidence and esteem of a very large majority of deputies" .

"I have no doubt that the examination of the facts will demonstrate, once again, its integrity," he added, stressing that "he benefits from the presumption of innocence" and assuring him of his " faithful support ".

An indictment would have "no impact", had previously considered Alain Tourret (LREM), a lawyer by profession.

The indictment of a President of the National Assembly during the exercise is unpublished. Laurent Fabius was already, in the case of tainted blood, when he became president of the Assembly in 1997.

Richard Ferrand "is presumed innocent," reacted for his part Sebastien Chenu (National Rally) on BFMTV.

bur-reb-jpa-erd / ggy / bap / shu

© 2019 AFP